Ants!!

[Lynn Ehrhart]

Anyone know how to get rid of ants?  They are hanging out on our concrete floors with our plug trays.  Help please.... 

[Christine M Champagne]

they sell a few different brands of a liquid bait that has boric acid and a sweetner. we just squirt a dab near the ants preferrably near their entrance and watch then feed. It can be a little scary at first as they gather but they do die. We usually are making follow up applications but have success with this method.

The problem starts in our plug house on the concrete as well and eventually you see ants in other ranges we use the same method. it also comes in a bait station form.

Christine

[Timothy Lamprey]

Terro is one brand. We sell it in our store. It works very well and yes it will freak you out with the number of ants that show up, but eventually they go on to that big ant farm in the sky!

[Donna Taggart]

have fireants here and I use Ortho with 50% active ingrediant Acephate, little dab 'ill do ya'. they overwinter under the state highway in front of my place from birmingham to Memphis and branch off to nest under any southfacing concrete slab along the way, its been so mild this winter, they are still active most afternoons.  I've GOT to get back into the battle soon, Or they will carry me away this year

[Billy Welter]

Lynn remember, whatever you use has to be consumed by the workers and transported back to the nest and fed to the queen. Once this happens you will rid them for good...........that is until another queen comes into the area. This may or may not happen. I have drenched with a few things that have helped but you still have to kill the queen.

Good Luck!

[Scott Titus]

Find the nest and pour urine on it. Organic, effective and free.

[Michael Pawelek]

The problem I have in the Spring when it warms up and rains a lot outside is that the Imported Fire Ants may take over 20-30 large containers over night in the greenhouses. I can't drink enough iced tea to pee that much! :)

[Scott Titus]

You just have to find one nest, ten ounces will do it!

Michael Pawelek said:

The problem I have in the Spring when it warms up and rains a lot outside is that the Imported Fire Ants may take over 20-30 large containers over night in the greenhouses. I can't drink enough iced tea to pee that much! :)

[Michael Pawelek]

Scott, Down this far South along the Texas Gulf Coast we sometimes have very moderate Winters where the daily temperatures are in the 60-70'sF and the imported fire ants reproduce so fast they are almost impossible to control. Open cattle pastures in my area sometimes have 80-90 mounds per acre and the ants have been known to actually kill new born calves from tens of thousands of stings. Your solution sounds great for one or two mounds but in many of the lower Southern states would be impractable. The USDA is currently working with a newly found ant that appears to be a advesary of the imported fire ant and many of us this far South are interested in their findings.

[Christine M Champagne]

we are always open minded about natural or friendly options to pest challenges but...

Lynn, we also get challenged each year with ants carrying our seeds away and are forced to take action. It sounds like we are fortunate not to have a fire ant invasion. i imagine the chemistry and other options effectiveness varies with the ant species.

they come up through cracks in the concrete and chemicals such as dursban never really gave us any type of control. We just couldn't get it to the nest. I can't imagine being able to any type of contact needed option to the nest urine included.

our winters are no where as mild as the texas area but we operate year round with our plug range never getting below 65 degrees F. we started using Terro 4 years ago and it has been a blessing. We are seeing long terms results and treating less often. each year we have fewer hot spots. never sent out to have id on exactly which ants we are fighting but now you all have my curiosty, i think i will. they appear to be 3 different species. One of which has a nasty sting.

at first i did not think the would carry the Terro back to the nest but i believe they are. when we first apply to an active sight the ants coming from every where, it can be pretty intimidating. but by the end of  the day there are only a few dead bodies and the rest have disappeared and the ant traffic stops. we started seeding in week 50 and the ants showed up week 50, we placed dime size puddles of Terro near the activity and also at previous cracks they have come out of in the past. sure enough they came out like crazy. we are on constant survielance and have not seen any more ants. we know it is a matter of time and they will show up some where, perhaps on another range. we will repeat the treatment.

 

[Maureen F. Murphy]

Though I haven't tried it in the greenhouses I have had good control at my house with cornmeal. Sprinkle some in the areas they frequent. They carry it back to the nest. Appearently cornmeal cannot be digested by ants so it wipes out the colony. Not to mention it is very cheap! So even if it doesn't work on your particular ants it won't cost you much to try it. It will take a few days to work though. To discourage them from entering the area ground cinnamon works well for while until they get used to it. A bit more expensive than the cornmeal though.

[Michael Pawelek]

Besides the Imported Fire ant many of us in the deep South have to contend with the South American Leaf Cutter Ant. In the last 3 years, on my property, these ants have overnight stripped a 6'x45' bench of Poinsettias, (20) 15' tall Peach trees and a whopping 150' row of climbing Roses. Baits do not work as the ants carry leaf parts underground to grow a fungus so they are not interested in anything else. Pesticides do not work because the underground nests/tunnels can be 30 feet deep and 50 feet across. There is a colony over my fence line on someone elses property that covers 1/2 acre and has over 250 entrance  and ventilation holes. They are a devastating pest and I have contacted both the USDA and Texas A&M about control. The USDA never returned my email and the reply I received from Texas A&M was that "they are not a economically significant pest at this time so there is no study on their control". Boy, are they going to be surprised in the future! These ants will travel over a mile to get to a favorite plant and are going to be a huge economic problem as time goes on. They do not make mounds so in tall grass are very hard to find unless you follow their trail... :(

 

[Christine M Champagne]

i did a quick google search and will probally end up with nightmares. the soldier ant of that species is hugh! Wonder if there is a fungicide which can prevent the development of the fungus growth that the ants desire? of course it would have to be applied to the host plant as their nest are so intricate. when i wake up from my nightmare i will be sure to start a google search. A quick search for biological control of the south american leaf cutter ant shows some research being done but no real success. unfortunately the articles i did find of interset require you to purchase to read. with the rate of north american enviromental changes it shouldn't be long before they are recognized as a "economically significant" pest. but of course if you are "only" talking ornamentals it could be a very long time.

Michael Pawelek said:

Besides the Imported Fire ant many of us in the deep South have to contend with the South American Leaf Cutter Ant. In the last 3 years, on my property, these ants have overnight stripped a 6'x45' bench of Poinsettias, (20) 15' tall Peach trees and a whopping 150' row of climbing Roses. Baits do not work as the ants carry leaf parts underground to grow a fungus so they are not interested in anything else. Pesticides do not work because the underground nests/tunnels can be 30 feet deep and 50 feet across. There is a colony over my fence line on someone elses property that covers 1/2 acre and has over 250 entrance  and ventilation holes. They are a devastating pest and I have contacted both the USDA and Texas A&M about control. The USDA never returned my email and the reply I received from Texas A&M was that "they are not a economically significant pest at this time so there is no study on their control". Boy, are they going to be surprised in the future! These ants will travel over a mile to get to a favorite plant and are going to be a huge economic problem as time goes on. They do not make mounds so in tall grass are very hard to find unless you follow their trail... :(